1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus used to manually dispense fluent material into containers and, more particularly, to such an apparatus in which the amount of fluent material dispensed in each container may be pre-selected to dispense the same amount of fluent material in each container.
2. Description of the Related Art
Using sandbags to build a dyke is a common way to prevent flooding. Generally, it is recommended that the dyke be built approximately two feet higher than the anticipated water level and have a base three times as wide as it is high. For example, if the water level rises three feet, the dyke should be five feet high and fifteen feet wide. Needless to say, to build a dyke, a large quantity of sandbags are required. For example, to build 100 linear feet of dyke, three feet high requires approximately 3,400 sandbags.
Typically, a sandbag is comprised of a bag made of burlap or polyethylene material partially filled with sand. The bags are filled approximately half-full and weigh approximately thirty-five pounds. The end of each bag is untied leaving a large upper, unfilled portion. During transportation, the unfilled portion of the bag acts as a flap which may be folded over to prevent spillage. When constructing a dyke, the sandbags are stacked in off-set rows with the unfilled portion extended longitudinally over the lower adjacent sandbag so that a longitudinally aligned adjacent sandbag is placed over the upper, unfilled portion of the sandbag to interlock the adjacent sandbags in the same row. In order to create a stable dyke, it is important that the quantity of sand and the upper, unfilled portion on each sandbag be the same.
The process of manually manufacturing hundreds or thousands of sandbags to construct a temporary dyke is very fatiguing and potentially injurious to a worker's back. Even when a dispensing apparatus is used, such as the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,417,261 and 5,437,318, workers must fill sandbags partially bent over at the waist, which puts tremendous stress on the worker's lower back muscles. As a result, back injuries are common among sandbagging workers.
An apparatus is needed that automatically dispenses a pre-determined quantity of sand into a sandbag so that the quantity of sand and the size of the unfilled portion of each sandbag is the same. Such an apparatus is also needed that is less stressful to workers than other dispensing apparatus' currently available.